This article by Robert Parry
suggests that the reasons for Bush's reshuffle of
military, diplocatic and intelligence personnel (and for the
policy of "surge") have more to do with future
wars against Iran and Syria than with the present one in Iraq.

In particular, Parry thinks that Negroponte was removed because he was
unwilling to fit the intelligence to the policy on Iran.

Unlike former CIA Director George Tenet, who bent to Bush's political needs on
Iraq, Negroponte stood behind the position of intelligence analysts who cited
Iran's limited progress in refining uranium. "Our assessment is that the
prospects of an Iranian weapon are still a number of years off, and probably
into the next decade," Negroponte said in an interview with NBC
News. Expressing a similarly tempered view in a speech at the National Press
Club, Negroponte said, "I think it's important that this issue be kept in
perspective."